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Beat Prepares for Independence Day Showdown Versus Carolina

June 30, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
Atlanta Beat News Release


ATLANTA (June 30, 2003) - The Atlanta Beat reclaimed the top spot in the WUSA, with a 1-0 win over the Washington Freedom on Saturday, June 28. The Boston Breakers, who won a midweek contest versus the New York Power and then tied the Philadelphia Charge on Saturday, had occupied the top spot briefly. Atlanta, with a 6-2-4 record, leads the Breakers by just one point, but has a game in hand.

The Beat goes on the road to face the Carolina Courage on Friday, and then returns home for a two game home stand next week, before hitting the road for a five game stretch.

Atlanta Beat vs. Carolina Courage Preview - Fri., July 4, 7 p.m. ET, - SAS Stadium The Atlanta Beat meets the Carolina Courage on Friday, July 4, in the final regular season meeting of 2003. The Courage leads the season series 1-0-1 and leads the all time series, 1-5-2, 1-0-0 in the playoffs. The Beat and Courage last met on Saturday, June 14, at SAS Stadium and played to a 0-0 tie.

The game marked the first shutout of Melanie Wilson's WUSA career. Wilson made her first start of the match due to the absence of Briana Scurry, who was on call with the U.S. Women's National Team. Cindy Parlow also missed the match, while with the National Team.

This match is the first in July and will begin the final stretch of the season for the Beat, who plays six of the team's final nine games on the road. The Beat is undefeated on the road this season, going 1-0-3, but will have a tough task on Friday. The Beat will be without two key players in Maribel Dominguez and Homare Sawa, who will be with their national teams, as Mexico and Japan play a home and home series to determine the final entrant into the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup.

The Courage will also be without a key player, as forward and one of the league's leading scorers Danielle Fotopoulos may be out for the remainder of the season. Fotopoulos suffered a serious knee injury in the Courage's game last Wednesday, and it's feared she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee. Fotopoulos was leading the league in scoring at the time of the injury. The Courage lost Norwegian playmaker Hege Riise in the second game of the season, to a torn ACL.

Key matchup: Nancy Augustyniak vs. Birgit Prinz - Augustyniak, one of the Beat's leaders on defense, will be able to focus more closely upon Prinz, who is now without sidelined teammate Danielle Fotopoulos. Prinz, last year's Founders Cup MVP, will be relied upon heavily to produce goals for the Courage.

Tom Stone's quotes on match versus Courage: On Danielle Fotopoulous being out: "The Fotopoulos injury allows us to pay even more attention to Prinz. I am sure Carolina will be looking to acquire or to develop another attacker to take the pressure off of Prinz, but there is no replacing Fotopoulos and her scoring talent. The downside of this scenario is that Prinz is capable of stepping up and doing even more in Fotopoulos's absence. It will take a great effort by our defense to contain her."

What it will take to defeat the Courage at SAS Stadium: "I think it will take another great defensive effort. In the last three regular season games versus Carolina, we have given up only two goals and had two shutouts. If we can continue to play well on defense, it becomes very important to have great mobility on the attack. By getting numbers forward, using all of the space on the big field up there, we'll create quality scoring chances. Hooper and Pohlers are playing very well. We'll look for them to have key roles this weekend."

Beat 1, Freedom 0 - Game Recap - June 28, 2003 The Beat got its second victory in a row and is undefeated in three games, after blanking the Freedom 1-0 last Saturday. Charmaine Hooper put the Beat on the scoreboard in the 2nd minute, when she received an errant clearance and was wide open in the penalty box. Hooper took a touch and slotted the ball into the far left corner of the goal for her 5th tally of the season.

The game was suspended in the 23rd minute and after a 36-minute lightning delay, the game restarted. The Beat went into the half with a 1-0 lead. Mia Hamm, who did not start, came on in the second half and showed an immediate impact, opening the game up, but the marking of Kylie Bivens, thwarted many of the chances of the superstar.

Hamm moved from left midfield to right, but was only able to get one clear chance. Hamm got free and sent a cross to the back post, from the right side, but it was just out of the reach of Emmy Barr. The Freedom's best scoring chance came on a Sandra Minnert shot that hit the right post in the 63rd minute.

Tom Stone's Quotes on match versus Washington: Tom Stone on the Beat's Goal - "Anytime that Conny (Pohlers) has the ball at her feet it creates a chance for our players and tonight Charmaine was able to put it in the back of the net." Tom Stone on the stats - "The telling stat is that being under that much pressure and only giving up one shot, that shows how good we are able to defend around our 18."

Atlanta Beat Training Schedule (June 30 - July 4, 2003):
Monday - Off Tuesday - 9 a.m. - 11 a.m., Rose Bowl Field
Wednesday - 9 a.m. - 11 a.m., Rose Bowl Field
Thursday - TBD (@ Carolina) Friday - Game vs. Courage

Times are subject to change. Practice is open to the media and for those wishing to attend practice or wishing to set up individual interviews, please contact Lee Kallman at 404-269-7357 or Stephen Rodriguez at 404-441-3030.

Injury Report - (Week, June 30 - July 4, 2003) None

National Team Duty - (June 30 - July 12) Maribel Dominguez - Mexico Homare Sawa - Japan

Additional Notes

Down the Home Stretch

The Atlanta Beat has nine games of the 21-game regular season schedule remaining. Six of those nine games are on the road, and five are consecutive, with no home games in between. In each of the last two seasons, the Beat has won five of its last nine games, going 5-4-0 in 2002 and 5-3-1 in 2001. With five wins the remainder of the way through, the Beat would guarantee themselves 37 points. The Beat had an 11-9-1 record and 34 points last season, securing a 4th place spot. The 5th place team finished with 29 points. The 4th place team in each of the past two seasons has had no fewer points than 31.

Internationals Making an Impact In the past two seasons Charmaine Hooper has been the Beat's leading scorer and it's no surprise that she's among the leading scorers on the team again this season, but it is somewhat surprising that four of the Beat's five leading scorers are international players, and two of them are first year WUSA players. Maribel Dominguez (Mexico) leads the team in scoring (7G, 4A, 18 pts), Hooper ranks second (5G, 6A, 16 pts), and Cindy Parlow (USA) is sandwiched in (3G, 3A, 9 pts) between Homare Sawa (Japan), who ranks fourth (3G, 2A, 8 pts) and Conny Pohlers, fifth (2G, 3A, 7 pts).

Putting Them in and Keeping Them Out

At the mid-point of the 2003 season the Beat not only possesses the league's best offense, but also the best defense. The Beat leads the league in scoring with 24 goals (2.00 per game average) and has only given up nine goals in 12 games this season (0.75 goals against average). If the team can maintain this pace, the Beat will score eight more goals than in 2002. The Beat has given up seven goals fewer than San Jose, who currently has the league's 2nd best defense.

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